Fridays with Foz: Carson Brom

Carson Brom is the youngest member of the Revive crew, and possibly my favorite. Today we got a chance to sit down and talk about his band, his love for Mac DeMarco and the fact that he hasn't cut his hair in almost two years.


Fozzie: So, Carson, tell me a little bit about yourself

Carson: Well, my name is Carson Brom, I'm 18 (ed. and currently single, ladies!) and originally I'm from Austin Texas. I moved to Washington DC because my dad's in the air force and he worked at the Pentagon. So, we moved from Austin to DC and then my dad got a job at the University of Portland as a professor of aerospace studies in the air force program. So, we moved here just over four years ago this month. 

F: How did you end up at Revive?

C: Basically in the summer, or early 2013 - we have an old house - Leland presented his business at one of our Retro Renovation house meetings. My mom wanted me out of the house for the summer, wanted me to do something, so she asked Leland if he did internships. 

F: Did you feel forced into it?

C: It was something that I really wanted to do, and I only really knew about upholstery through Jack White. So I thought it was a cool thing to do. 

F: When did you start?

C: A couple of months later, the summer before my senior year, I started interning here. The day before I started my girlfriend, of two years, broke up with me so I really needed something to take my mind off that.  I found out I had enough credits to graduate early, so I decided to do that. I ended up using my internship as my career credit and graduated in August of 2013. 

F: Wow! Congrats, what are you up to now?

C: Doing upholstery part time - just tearing apart stuff on Fridays. Right now it's the perfect balance to school. I probably wouldn't be able to do a full time job right now. Its really nice to just work at a hobby. I go to PCC right now, I'm getting my associates degree in arts. It's a transfer degree, so I can transfer and only have two years left.  I can choose my major then. Right now, I'm kind of undecided.

F: What do you do in your spare time?

C: Write and record music.

F: Really? Do you have a band?

C: Sort of. I've had a few. I'm still looking for people. I've played live a few times with a bunch of different people as my backing band. It's always worked out.

F: Where can I listen to some of your stuff?

C: Goobz.bandcamp.com There's not much on there now but there will be. I have an album coming out soon. 

F: What's it called?

C: Its still a work in progress. I make it all myself in the basement of my parents house, with just a laptop and all the instruments and microphones. But yea, I do it all myself, when I play live I try to find people to play the music with me. Its fun. I've been postponing it (the album) forever but its exciting.

F: You said you play all the instruments, how many do you play?

C: Typically like 4, keyboard, drums, bass and guitar. I'd probably play other ones, but I don't have them. I would like - I'm taking a Music Theory class right now, I would like to learn to read and write music and play piano classically. I've always wanted to play band instruments like the trumpet or saxophone or something. There are a few I haven't tried or gotten into. 

F: Do you find that its mainly music that inspires you?

C: Basically the only thing that keeps me making music and inspires me is that all my friends also make music. They are always sending me stuff and its become a small competition. You don't want to fall too far behind your friends, because they are doing really cool things too. We're always trying to one up each other. 

F: You tend to bring a lot of new music to the shop, where do you find it?

C: Everywhere. To begin with, my parents and my sister. My mom's a musician, a rockabilly singer. We have a large, large collection of records. It seems like every night my dad is always showing me another record and trying to play me something. I don't know, as I and my friends started to get into music, its always just been my friends now. They have bands, they open for bands, they are just super in the scene. Its like every week there are 10 new bands that they've found. That's another thing, every weekend we hang out and then we try to see who found the best new song or new band that week. Its another little friendly competition thing.

F: I know you see a lot of live music, what's been your favorite show recently?

C: I drove down to LA to go to BeachGoth in October, which is the Growlers' music festival at the Observatory. It was like 30 bands in one day. They were all Burger Records bands. I go see my friend band LadyWolf every other week, at house shows. Usually the house shows are the best shows, because everyone goes to them because they are free and all ages. Those are the best.  There's an all ages problem in Portland, so I have to find other ways to see music live. 

F: Are there any bands you haven't been able to see because of the whole 21 and over thing?

C: My friends band that is actually blowing up, Pyschomagic, I've only seen them once because they're just big enough to not have to play house shows anymore but their only concerts are 21 and up. Also, La Luz from Seattle, they played the Doug Fir. The Doug Fir gets all the good shows, but they're only 21 and up. I haven't been able to see La Luz and its really disappointing. They played twice this last month and I still haven't seen them.

F: Have you ever snuck into a a 21 and over show?

C: I've tried. I've come really close. It's usually the bands (the nice ones) who try to sneak me in. 

F: What records did you bring to play today?

C: I had an Iggy Pop record I wanted to bring in, but forgot. There's always Foxygen and The Growlers. I had a whole stack of records to play today but I forgot them. Oh and always Mac Demarco he's the best. He's like my hero.

F: You talk a lot about DeMarco, what about him do you love so much?

C: There's nobody like him. His personality, he's just the weirdest, biggest goofball and I just really, really admire that. His whole persona, he just seems like the coolest nicest guy ever. Just super goofy. It translates into his music really well. Especially his lyrics, because he's like a poet first and then also just happens to be really good at making music, but his lyrics are always really meaningful. I can really relate to them a lot, mostly because they are about sad teenage boys. 

F: Oh Carson, are you a sad teenage boy?

C: I don't know a teenage boy who isn't sad. 

F: On a happier note, what are your top three records to rock out to at work?

C: Thin Lizzy- Nightlife or Jailbreaker. Only their early stuff, if I want to rock out, I don't like any of their other ones.
Foxygen - ...And Starpower, their new album - it's the best yet but it seems like nobody seems to care. People blew it off, but I think its great. Its 25 songs and its really rough, sounds like a bunch of demos but its really great. 
Mac DeMarco - Salad Days - because, well it's Mac DeMarco.

F: So Carson, what's next for you?

C: Id really like to go into music in any way shape or form. There's producing or playing as a studio musician, or in a band. I'm just going to find a way. I hope it works out. I keep doing upholstery because I really like it here (at Revive). I had a job at Fred & Meyer for like two months and I really hated it. And they didn't have a dog, a really nice dog. It's just perfect, super fun, I just love doing it. There's not anything else I'd like to do instead, its like a really fun hobby.  

F: Well that's all we have time for today, is there anything else you liked to say?

C: Thanks for reading. We might have a show coming up, I don't know when or where, but check out our Facebook page for updates. 

Fridays with Foz: Kelly Rogers

Today I had the pleasure of sitting down with Revives own Kelly Rogers. Besides being quite lovely, Kelly is also a delight to speak with. Coming from a background in fashion, Kelly found her way to Portland (and Revive) through a series of meaningful connections.  

Fozzie: Can you tell me a little bit about your background?

Kelly: I grew up with a love for fashion. I used to watch the fashion television shows and became obsessed with it. From that point on, I pretty much knew I wanted to study that. I went to school at University Wisconsin, Madison for the textile and apparel design program. I loved that, because I wanted to go to a university and also study a creative field. The cool thing about the program was that you could spend your last year in New York at FIT, and that was the only city I had ever wanted to live in. It (NYC) was the only place I could imagine myself for a long time. I finished school there and got internships at Marc Jacobs and Jill stuart Jeans. It was through those internships that I made my first connections. Every job I’ve ever gotten has been through a connection. Once I graduated, I started working for Eddie Rodriguez in New York and then I freelanced at JCrew – which was a really great experience to see the behind the scenes of how that place works. From there, I started working for John Varvatos, and that was where I spent most of my time in New York. It was an amazing experience.

F: What were some of the things you did for these labels?

K: I was a designer working with the creative director. My job was everything from researching, creating mood boards, hand sketching everything – I feel really blessed that I worked for people who embraced hand sketching, as opposed to putting everything in Illustrator, I think its such an important form of communication of ideas. I would do fittings, detailed tech packs, measurements, sourcing fabrics and trims, creating prints. I could go into archives and find old patterns and prints and redevelop them into new fabrics, and that was always so thrilling, I would love to be able to that for furniture as well, creating original upholstery fabrics.  I worked from concept all the way through production, managing fashion show samples and preparing for the shows, working with stylists who come in and re imagine what you’ve been working on for so long.

F: Is there a favorite moment that sticks out for you?

K: There is something to the thrill of the post fashion show, the build up for months and months and months, and in the final weeks – coming to that moment – its full speed ahead to the day of the show up to the moment the model walks out – everyone is still tweaking things and then all of a sudden its DONE. Its out there in the world, and I think that’s always a thrilling moment and it was always something I wanted to experience and was able to.

F: What made you leave New York?

K: After working at John Varatos for a while, I decided to make a change and moved to LA. I had started to realize that New York wasn’t the place I wanted to live forever and LA seemed to be the next logical step. In LA, I got a job working for Splendid & Ella Moss. That was a wonderful experience because I was able to go from working for companies who primarily made their clothing overseas to working for a company that was 90% made domestically. Working with a sample room and local production was an amazing dichotomy to have at that moment.

F: So how did you end up in Portland?

K: My job with Splendid ended and I had found I had become disenchanted with the industry. I really questioned where I wanted to go from there. One day I’m on Venice Beach and I meet Mike Warner, fall in love and six months later I’m moving to Portland.

F: How did you meet Leland, and start working for Revive?

K: I had moved to the St Johns neighborhood, and I spent a few days checking it out. I walked into Kert’s (ed. Kert owns Sabi & Friends in St Johns) and she tells me about this new thing that’s happening called Beam & Anchor, and this guy Leland Duck who I have to meet.  I didn’t go right away, but I finally made it in there and I’m totally inspired. It was electric, this feeling in my belly went off, and it was new and exciting. At that time I had been using a friends studio to do a fun project and I was focusing on leather. After meeting Leland, I decided “I’m gonna do a leather chair!”, so I go do my chair, and I have no idea what I’m doing, it was very unconventional upholstery. I went and showed Leland and asked what he thought. The whole process was just so exhilarating for me, like I had tapped into something I had never tapped into before. I asked Leland if I could hang around, apprentice and learn, hopefully do a project together, maybe get hired, and that’s where I find myself now.

F: How was the transition from fashion to furniture?

K: I love that my background and skill set comes into play and it's like I’m making costumes or a wardrobe for furniture instead of people. It’s the same skill set just applied in a different way.  I love, that the furniture has longevity where fashion doesn’t.  That’s what appeals to me, it’s not just “put it out this season and on to the next” it’s a piece that lives, hopefully, a long life span. I feel like furniture is more of an instant satisfaction. That may be because furniture was one of the first things I was actually making myself. In fashion, I was never doing something where I was actually sitting down at the sewing machine and making the clothes.

F: Do you still find inspiration from fashion? 

K: Yes, fashion still inspires me. When I’m in the process of researching, and inspiring myself, I find I’m still always looking to fashion for mood, vibe, and attitude or colors and even details, I suppose. That’s a big point of connection for Leland and I, that discovery of those details and taking them out of their known world and taking them to a new place. I think there is a huge frame of reference from the fashion world that comes into play with furniture.  

F: What are your other sources of inspiration?

K: I feel like there are so many places to get inspired from, and it's realizing that you have to always be aware of that, that it’s around every corner. Its also what gets me in trouble sometimes because there are ideas, and excitement everywhere and I feel the burst of energy for an idea and then it goes away and then the next thing comes and it's always moving. I’m also inspired by our ideal way to live, the way you want to feel in your home and what kind of materials you want to be surrounded by. Another source would be traditional craft and how you can improve on them for future designs.

F: Can you give me an example?

K: Right now I have caning on the mind, I keep thinking about caned furniture and how caned or woven chairs can be updated. What’s a modern take on that? Even though I feel like a lot of the patterns still feel fresh, and are timeless, I like the idea of taking things like that, and asking can you add a new twist and make it a new classic. 

F: What about music?

K: Music is the background to everything, to my life. I feel like I’m always searching for the song that captures my mood everyday, and how it will set the pace of my day. Mike (Kelly's Fiancee) pulled out the Staple Sisters who have a particular song, that is just so good, that I have been listening to a lot lately and it's been kind of perfect. I do feel like life is, like you're always dancing through life, whether its slow or fast. 

F: What music is going to capture your mood today?

K: I’m going to put on Otis Heat’s “ING” because “ING” is a perfect model for this year, its about not thinking to much, but doing. “ING “ is all about the act of doing.

F: If there was one thing you could tell the future creatives of the world...

K: Its important to take risks, and not be afraid to switch paths at any moment, just know that you’re going to be ok. Don’t think that you can’t afford to take that risk, that there are too many unknowns. If you believe in it, if its alignment with your values, and you feel like its where you want this world to be, you have to go for it.

F: What do you love about what you're doing now?

K: The kind of work that we do, the value behind it is so much what I believe and what I want to be a part of. We are creating things that are made here and supporting our community and economy, really supporting our own freedom of creativity. I value that so much, I cant even tell you. It scares me, I don’t want to see our country’s skills sets going to other parts of the world, and I feel like we have this beautiful moment, this renaissance, of American craftsmanship – really refined beautiful craftsmanship and that’s what I want to be a part of, honing in and cultivating it so that we can pass it on and breed a new generation that really have strong foundations here. We have an endless opportunity, the jobs we can create, that are not only creating beautiful things, but things that are sustainable - that are a lifestyle. Its exciting to me. So much of that is what keeps me going, when I do feel shaken, its “but I believe in this”, and there’s so much truth in that, it cant be wrong and I have to trust that. 

F: What do you think 2015 hold as far as trends?

K: I think that 2015 is going to be kind of a clean slate. I think the beautiful juxtaposition of black and white will be big. I also think we'll be diving deep into techniques that we’ve overlooked from all over the world and giving them a new unique life. 

F: Well, I think we have time for one more question... where is your favorite place to take a walk here in Portland?

K: I love Cathedral Park, because its such a beautiful reflective place. I love walking the neighborhoods, because every street has its own character, with the unique homes, every place just feels special. I love Mt. Tabor to.

F: Really? I don’t think I’ve ever been there…..

K: We will go Fozzie, I will take you there.

F: I will definitely take you up on that.

Next week: Find out what makes our own Carson Brom tick!

Fridays With Foz

Leland Duck & Chelsea Howard Duck

In our first installment of "Fridays with Foz" I will be interviewing the owners of Revive Upholstery & Design: Leland and Chelsea Duck. From what I have gathered, having lived with them for almost three years, the two met in Southern California in 2007. Having had their fill of the California life, they decided to move to Portland in May of 2009. 

Fozzie: What made you decide to move to Portland?

Chelsea: I had lived in California my whole life and always wanted to move up North. When we met, we realized that California wasn't where we wanted to base our lives, and decided to leave. I had a close friend who lived in Beaverton, so we visited her for a weekend and just decided to go for it. 

Leland: The economy had taken a nose dive and there were no opportunities for us in California. I had two rather crappy jobs, and it was pretty miserable. So we decided to move to a city with the highest unemployment rate...

F: So I take it you moved to Portland with no jobs?

L: Well, Chelsea had a job and worked from home for a company in California, unfortunately it only lasted a month. I did not have a job, and pretty much spent every day searching for employment. I started selling at flea markets, and swap meets, spent a lot of time on craigslist finding cool stuff to sell. Every day I would dedicate a few hours to walking into town, introducing myself to each business and asking if they were hiring or knew someone who was hiring. 

C:  It was actually on one of these walks that Leland kind of found his way into furniture upholstery.

F: How so?

L:  There was a building that was a few blocks from our house, and one day I walked by and there was this cabinet or table, I can't remember, on the curb. I was all ready to grab it, when the owners (Jim & Donna Moulton) came out and told me it wasn't a freebie. We got to talking and they mentioned they were looking for an upholsterer. I had gone to school for automotive upholstery, but had never done furniture before, but I told them I could do it. 

F: And Revive Upholstery was born!

C:  Not quite. We both ended up finding full-time jobs, but Leland would do projects for Jim and Donna to make extra money. When he first started, he was doing everything out of our living room and garage. We used to have couches in our hallway, and there would be staples all over the floor. It was kind of a nightmare, but he started getting really good at what he was doing and more people were seeking him out. Pretty soon he was spending all his free time doing upholstery.

F: So when did Revive become an actual business?

L: I spent about two years doing the upholstery out of the house, and also selling vintage items online. I had a cabinet on craigslist, and Robert (Robert Rahm from Beam & Anchor) came by to take a look. We got to talking and he mentioned he had a building and was looking for people to form kind of a shared creative space. I immediately jumped at the opportunity. We met with Robert & Jocelyn a few times and in July of 2011, I moved into Beam & Anchor and formed Revive. 

F: Were you both excited?

C: I was actually terrified. Leland originally was going to keep his full-time gig and transition slowly into his new career. However, he abruptly quit his job about a month and half later, and I admit I freaked out. I knew he was talented, but I was so scared of the unexpected and the economy was still pretty bad. I gave him a hard time about quitting. He made the right decision though, and I have never been so happy to have been so wrong.

F: What made you change your mind?

C: There were a lot of reasons. Leland is one of the most talented, driven men I've ever met. He's extremely determined and watching him take this huge leap was really inspiring. Incredibly scary, but inspiring. We also had this great community of people who were all kind of in the same boat. It was an amazing support system for him, and I will never be able to thank all the lovely people from Beam and Anchor enough.

L: I also think that the city itself had a lot to do with changing her mind. Portland is such a supportive city for small businesses. The people here generally want you to succeed and are willing to help you in any way they can. We could have never started Revive in California, and I'm so glad we ended up here.

F: So how have things changed since 2011?

L: Well we've grown a lot. We have a great clientele, and have had the chance to work with some amazing interior designers, and other craftsmen. We hired a full-time employee, Kelly Rogers, last year which has helped us so much. She's an incredibly talented designer. We also have a great part-timer, Carson Brom, who helps with tear-down and keeping us current on whats hip in music. Chelsea got to join the team this year too, working on all the behind the scene, admin, business-y stuff. We're also concentrating more on one of kind pieces that we get to design and produce. I'm also focusing on producing a product line in 2015. It's been a long journey, but I feel like we're finally getting where we want to be and having fun.

C: We've also had some amazing opportunities just in the last year. Rejuvenation invited us to have a pop-up in their Portland location. It has been such a huge deal for us! We'd never had a showroom before and were only able to display a few items here and there in different spots. Having a whole room of just our pieces has just been such an amazing experience. It's led to Rejuvenation carrying a line of our pillows, which is awesome. We also were invited to show a piece at The Museum of Contemporary Craft, which is just an honor. It's one of my favorite museums in town, so it's so cool to say we have a chair there. 

Kenton: Home of the Paul Bunyan Statue

F: Speaking of showrooms, I was told you have some big news?

L: Yes, we are excited to announce that we will be moving into our own building in Kenton this spring.

F: That is exciting! I hear there's a pretty nice park near by...

C: Yes, there is. It's a fantastic building, and although we are sad to be leaving our home at Beam & Anchor, we are really stoked to be making this move.

F: Well it seems we just have time for one more question, so seeing it's the new year, do you have any resolutions?

C: I have quite a few, but the biggest one is just to be more organized. Boring, but with the move and all the things we want to accomplish, it's definitely a necessity.

L: I don't know! Eat more candy? I just want this year to be one of the best years for Revive. There's just so much to look forward to, it's exciting.

The Revive Crew at the Feet of Paul Bunyan:
From Left: Fozzie, Leland, Chelsea, Kelly and Carson

Next week: Join us for a small glimpse into the wondrous life of Kelly Rogers. 

Woof. 

2014: A Year at Revive

Photo Credit: Nicolle Clemetson www.nicolleclemetson.com

2014 was quite a year for Revive Designs, although you may not have known as I was a terrible blogger. Well, I know what my new year's resolution is this year...

It was a year of firsts for myself and the entire Revive Designs crew. We had our first international order, our first wholesale order, our first Pop-Up shop at Rejuvenation, our first piece in The Museum of Contemporary Craft, and our first magazine feature in Portland Monthly. I had my first professional photo shoot, which I must say, was quite a pleasure. Who knew you could get a whole sleeve of graham crackers for just staying in place? We had the opportunity to work with amazingly talented people, who were also exceptional belly scratchers. We fell in love with fabrics, found beautiful projects, and played around with new techniques. We, or should I say Leland, developed a slight sewing machine hoarding problem, but hey!, at least it's a tax write-off.

The team at Revive grew (slightly) and we were able to welcome Chelsea as a full time...wait, what is it you do again? Something behind the scenes, right? Anyways, our crew now consists of Leland, the gorgeously talented Kelly, our music machine Carson, Chelsea and me. It's a pretty full house, but we couldn't ask for a better group of folks. Now if they could all spend a little less time "working" and a little more time rubbing my head.

Speaking of space, we have some exciting news for everyone, which I will get into tomorrow. No, seriously. I will be hosting a series of interviews this coming year "Fridays with Foz", and my first interview will post tomorrow featuring Leland and Chelsea and their big 2015 news. It's exciting, it even has pictures.

Well I stayed up quite late last night, and all this typing has tuckered me out. I'm off to take the first nap of the new year.

Happy New Year.

Woof.

The week of the "Well-Worn" "Luxe" Bazaar

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday, I know I did. Nothing better than laying beneath a table full of happy, thankful, clumsy people eating turkey. We took a couple of days off to enjoy visiting family, and long walks, but are back in the shop....and it looks like we may never leave. Leland is in deep preparation for this weekends fourth annual Portland Bazaar.

Leland and crew have created two unique collections to showcase at this years Bazaar. "Well-Worn" is an homage to Leland's love of vintage and "Luxe" is a new foray into awesomeness - well at least that's how he describes it.  The "Well-Worn" collection uses vintage canvases, wool, and distressed leathers to create a downtown vibe, while "Luxe" will feature velvets, and suedes for a more uptown feel. They all seem really excited about the new pieces, but I don't think we'll be leaving the shop at all this week. So if anyone wants to come and meet me for a walk, just let me know.

I'll try to get a few sneak peaks up before the Bazaar.

Woof.

This Weekend!

The months just seem to fly by, and already we're approaching the holiday season. While I am resting up for the coming excitement, Leland is busy creating a plethora of new items just in time for:

I'm planning on attending just to see the newest set-up of the Revive Pop-Up Shop, and I hope to see you there too!

We've got quite few more events lined up, and I'll tell you more about them as they approach. In the mean time, the Revive Pop-Up Shop is open everyday, and we also have a new piece at The Museum of Contemporary Craft.

Exciting things to come!

Woof.